The Psycho Cyclist!

The big nadda! I took the day off seeing how I met all my goals yesterday! Plus, I’ve trained everyday for the past 7 days....need a day to rest thy legs! My up coming schedule looks like this... 30 miles on Tuesday, 40 on Wednesday, 40 on Thursday, 30 on Friday, and the weekend is still up in the air until I know what the weather looks like. Would like to get a long ride to Indian River County this weekend or Mt. Dora if it’s permitted by the weather! Shooting for about 250+ miles this week...but that is not a goal.

Today was the day of goals and milestones …first the ride. Slow and steady 22 mph pace. Felt great…I rode the trainer again b/c it was raining buckets outside. The milestones that I passed today were quite plentiful… First, went over 50 miles on the trainer (my longest ride to date on the trainer), second, went over the 1000 miles mark on the trainer (1033.5 year-to-date), and lastly, went over the 1000 miles mark for the month of February (1010 actually and 1900 year-to-date). Like I said, it was a day of goals and milestones! I also got my first flat tire on the trainer….yes that is what I thought…”who gets a flat ridding in the house?” I think what happened is that I over inflated my tire a bit and when I ride on the trainer, the tires do heat up and may have caused the air in the tube to expand even more…POP…blow out. Anyway, I feel great, soaked in a hot bath and now relaxing. I’, still planning on taking tomorrow off like it a normal Monday. Not bad for not leaving the ...

Well the weekend is going to be like the week…indoor training. The weather is windy and rainy. Anyway, I got up around 5:30 this morning had my coffee and went out to the garage about 6:30. I rode 30 miles today…nothing special….just rode about a 22.5 mph pace. So that’s 960 for the month…tomorrow I’ll do the remaining 40 miles to hit my 1000 mark. I’ll also go over the 1000 mark on the trainer too!! Banner day. Most people up north are still waiting for the season to start and here I am with almost 2000 miles be hind me!!

I woke up this morning feeling lazy and lacking motivation…..I am mortal after all. Anyway, I thought about just skipping today’s ride, but I just can’t let myself do that so I went out to the garage and rode a very quick 20 miles. The first 10 miles I kept a 23 mph pace and the second 10 miles I kept a 26.5 mile pace. Heart rate stay in the 170 range so it actually turned out to be a decent ride after all. Still feel lazy though. Anyway, 70 more miles to hit my 1000 mile goal for the month. 30 miles tomorrow and 40 miles on Sunday!! No problem. Cheer me on!

It was a pretty productive morning with a 42 mile ride. The first 10 miles I rode with a moderate pace of 23 mph, the second 10 miles I picked up the tempo to about a 25.5 mph average. The last 23 miles I kept it in the middle with about a 23-24 mph pace. Not to bad...felt pretty good. That makes 1810 miles for the year 910 miles for the month and 933 miles on the trainer so far this year. While riding, I noticed a puddle of water moving toward a low spot on the garage floor...I thought that I had dropped and spilled my water bottle...I looked over on the counter and it was still there, then I looked closer...IT WAS SWEAT! I had been sweating so much that the puddle underneath me was starting to move towards low ground!!! Amazing! No wonder why I’m drained! So, 90 more miles over the next 4 days to hit my goal of 1000. No problem. I’ll even take a day off!!!

Another good morning!! I rode my 40 miles and felt great...I broke the ride up in two parts...the first part I just maintained a 22 mph pace and kept my heart rate down to about 140ish range, and then on the last 20 mile I picked up the pace and did intervals between 23-30 mph. The second leg my average speed was 25.2 mph. Yep...worked up a good sweat. I think that I decided to ditch the long ride idea for the week due to the rain and wind that is forecasted to move through...so I’ll just stay on the trainer and burn myself out. Actually I set a new goal for myself. As of this morning I have 867 miles for the month of February, so I decided to shoot for a 1000 miles for the month! I just have to do 26.4 miles every day for the rest of the month....actually I’ll do more and take a day or two off! I love setting goals....if not, I’m just spinning my wheels.....ha, ha, ha!!!

It was a banner morning in the garage. I rode the 30 miles that I wanted to and kept a 24.1 average. I really felt good and strong this morning. I didn’t do and intervals or anything…just tried to maintain a good tempo. I also rode a lot hands free, which on a trainer takes certain skill!!! You put allot of emphasis on the abdominal muscles to keep your balance…so it was a good work out!! This weekend looks like it maybe a wash out so I may have to rethink this weeks plan!

I’m not supposed to work on Mondays!! That was my legs talking. I got in a quick 20 miles. Didn’t sleep good last night…arm drove me crazy!! I plan on doing 20 miles today (did), 30 on Tuesday, 40 Wednesday and Thursday, and 30 on Friday. That will be 160 miles for the weekday and I’ll try to get another 100-110 mile ride in on Saturday. I want to be able to get to 150 miles in one day. That is the goal. A good ride to Mt Dora and back or to my brothers…and back. It won’t be easy…but I think with my current training schedule, I’ll be in good enough shape by late spring or early summer to make the first attempt. I’ll keep pushing the Saturday rides a little further each time. I’ll try another 110 this weekend…weather permitting of course!

I killed the bike! It turns out that I was stronger than my bike yesterday. I was having some mechanical difficulties on the last 10 miles on the ride but didn’t look at the bike until this morning. My rim was rubbing on the brake pad and what had happen was that I broke a spoke on the rear tire. So off to the shop it goes. So I decided to take my day off today and I’ll train tomorrow. Actually it works out pretty good. I may shift my off training day to Sunday so I can have a full day to relax….unless my friend Stu wants to ride down the river or something. It’s nice having that long ride on Saturday and sleeping in and relaxing the next day where I was doing my long rides on Sunday and going to work the next day….just a thought. Anyway I was too hungry to ride today!! FOOD…NEED FOOD. Also, my bee sting turned in to this red itchy tumor on my arm that is driving me nuts! Have to go get some cream or something for it. Need to start thinking about next weekends ride……hummm ...

Well I have to say that I actually impressed myself on this one. This one of the hardest ride..ever! I was right about the wind…it was in my face the WHOLE way. It just wouldn’t let up. Because of the wind, by average speed to Palm Coast was 17.8, and if you know me….that’s pretty slow. I like to keep it about 20. Anyway….the wind really didn’t break my spirits or deterred me at all, surprisingly. Anyway, I took off from my house about 8:45 am and headed North on US1 (and stayed there for about 55 miles). Then when I got to about mile 20 I feel this horrible pain in m left for arm like I had a shard of glass in it. I look down and there was the biggest bee I have ever seen stuck to my jersey and stinging me. I swear that I saw him wave at me! I had to grab this thing and pull him off to me like he was some playground bully. Then I start to feel my arm get all warm and achy as the venom starts to spread. Of course I never thought to actually stop and look…I kept peddling ti...

Today, I’m still planning to ride up to my brother’s house in Pam Coast. The air is cool and I’ll have a bit of a headwind and crosswind , but what can you do. I’ll just have to push harder!!! It will be good training, plus I’m hoping that the new scenery will motivate me a bit more and make the wind less noticeable. Again, I’m not in any hurry and I’ll get up there when I get up there. My only “rusher” for lack of better words will be hunger. I usually burn about 1000 calories per hour and this will be about 5 hour ride! I’m sure I’ll lose some pounds. I’ll give you the skinny later!

I got home and looked at my training log...I was off by 19 miles. 1581 miles for the year and 681 miles for the month of Feburary. I'll hit 1600 and then some tomorrow!

Well today was a repeat of Thursday ride...also went over 800 on the trainer!! Felt pretty good. Still had some juice left in the legs which is what I wanted. I decided to make the ride up to Palm Coast tomorrow. I might end up regretting this descission. I’ll have a bit of a head wind and then a cross wind the whole way! But I just have too much to do on Sunday. Plus, I figure that you are not always going to be able to pick your days so you have to be able and confident enough to do it and make it through the ride.....preserver!! Plus it’s only a 100 miles!!!! At least it’s a one way route and most of the scenery will be new to me so it will be exciting...albeit tiring!!! I’m going to take US1 all the way up to Palm Coast....if that ride goes well, the next time may be to St Augustine (125 mile ride). Will let you know!!! BTW..up to 800 miles on the trainer and close to 1600 miles for the year and something close to 700 miles for Feburary. I don't have my spreadsheet here...but i...

Quick 30 miles @ a 24 mph pace to get the blood and sweat flowing this morning. Pretty uneventful ride. Felt better than yesterday….a little bit more motiveated. 1h 12 m time. Is it Saturday yet!

Got up this morning feeling real tired. Drank my coffee and went out to the garage to ride.......(grunt). I managed to do 40 mile, but my legs needed some persuasion. They felt like bricks about mile 30. I just felt sluggish. I did keep a 23.5 mph pace which is not too bad. No real intervals or anything today. If I felt like peddling faster I did and when I got sluggish, I peddled slower! Just another day at work in the garage. I did find out that Lance will ride the Tour again this year and that he will go for #7!! That’s something to look forward to! Still not sure what the plans are for this weekend’s ride...Sunday looks like the better weather day, but I wanted to relax on Sunday and just do a short 30-40 mile ride. Oh well....I’ll just have to flip my days I guess. Will know more on Thursday of Friday.

Well it was another day on the trainer, but I managed 33 miles in 1h12m...or average of 24.7 mph. Not bad. I have logged this year over 700 miles on my trainer! Felt great after a day off and motivated for the upcoming weekend. I decided that I would ride up to Palm Coast where my brother lives. It should be a straight 100 miles. He volunteered to give me a ride back to my house. Once home, we’ll pig out! But it should be a very nice ride up US1 and through Tomoka Park. The ride should be very pretty and very different ride. Should be well distracted and an enjoyable ride all the way up. I love going to new places. There are no points of reference so you really don’t know how much further you have. Another one of those just sit back and ride...rides. Really looking forward to it!! This is why I train as hard as I do....for days like that Saturday and this up coming weekend!

Yep...Day off. Just relaxed and read my email this morning. I have a bit of a food and wine hang over from last night. Went out to celebrate my anniversary and valentines Day with a huge meal. Anyway....Just chilling today and thinking about the up coming weekend already!

Today I went for a quick ride with my friend Stuart down the river to Cocoa Village and back. It was a beautiful day with very little winds. Legs felt good but my butt was a little sore. I could have done a long ride, but really just wanted to spend the day at home with Carmen! Need some time to relax! Today was about 30 miles and I still managed to make Stuart work. Coming back I pushed the pace to about 25…not to bad for me but Stuart was back there trying to hang on. I really do it for him…..can’t become a better rider without pushing it and ridding harder. All-in-all a nice day and a good recovery ride. Later this afternoon, I’m going to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse for dinner. I’ll be packing on some extra calories during this meal!! Tomorrow…nothing. I try not to ride at all on Mondays. So for the week I ended up with 271 miles, 548 for the month, and 1448 for the year. Not a bad start.

I know it took me some time to get to bogging this ride, but I just didn’t feel like sitting back in my office…a little tired. Well the ride was great! It started out WAY cold. Colder that I had expected and had dressed for. I didn’t start warming u until mile 30! Through Christmas and Oviedo was pretty uneventful. 419 in Oviedo was a nice road…busy, but it had a good shoulder. I went through downtown Oviedo…real pretty. I was going to stop for a minute but I got sucked into the traffic and just motored through. I did get turned around some how. I found myself on Red Bug and I should have been farther north than that. So, I decided to take a break and consume some gel and call my wife to let her know where I am. I stayed there for only a few minutes. Rode down Red Bug and was looking for 17-92 and when I say 436 I knew that I was way off track. So I just used my keen sense of direction and meandered north and west and I finally made it to 17-92. By this point I went throug...

110 miles later...I'm home. Real tired and real hungry now. I'll fill you in on the details later. But one of the best rides!!!

Finally a nice riding day! The winds are going to be from the NW @ 7 (max) and the air temp will be about 60 F and not a cloud in the sky….ahhhhhh! I’m going to shoot for 100-120 miles today. No pace set…just peddle and enjoy the scenery. I have all day and I told my wife that I’d be gone most of the day and I made no planes after my ride JUST so I can relax! I’ll have to dress a tad worm, but I will not complain. I’m sure that there are thousands or people today in there basements up north today that would die for a day like today. Tomorrow will actually be nicer…a little warmer and winds @ 3 mph! The route…I’ll head out of PSJ and take HWY 50 to Ft Christmas Rd, Fort Christmas ends at Chuluota to 434….that will take me to 17/92 which goes north to 46 in Sanford, then east 46 all the way to Mims..(I’ll have a slight tailwind on this leg). Once in Mims I’ll take US1 to PJS! The map below kind of put into perspective what that looks like. Yes I am actually going to ride from the...

Well today was a 33 mile morning. Was going to do 40...but it’s going to be a nice weekend and I should be able to get several miles built-up, so I figured that I would be lazy. Tomorrow will be cold...about 45-50...but the winds should be pretty calm. I decided that I would try my Christmas/Lake Mary ride. This route should give me about or over a hundred miles for the day. Right now I’m at 133 for the week and 433 for the month and 1310 for the year! A few calories!!!! I have no set goal this weekend other than ride and enjoy the outdoors. Spend so much time in the garage on the rollers. Sunday also looks better but me and my better half are going over to Orlando for dinner to celebrate our anniversary/Valentines Day so I don’t want to be exhausted.....but I’ll still get in about 50 on Sunday. Usually, I save my long ride for Sunday...but this is a special weekend. I may have another 300 mile week!!

Today was the same workout as Tuesday….30 miles. Starting to see the routine?! That is why I said that it is hard to ride on a trainer. If it was only a quick 10 miles…that would be one thing but to do 30-40 miles everyday….it does get to you. But doing it, does give you the mental determination that you need on those long rides. Plus, it makes those long outdoor rides more enjoyable!! Ah, the trees, the birds, the smells, the ^%$# cars!! But it was a good ride today…I probably should have done 40 miles to day but it looks like a good weekend and should be able to get some good miles in, so gonna save my legs. Tomorrow, I’ll shoot for 40. But this week I have 100 miles so far….might still end-up with another 300 mile week.

Well not much to report this morning. Today was pretty much like yesterday...with the exception that I got in 40 miles in 100 minutes. Kept the same pace as yesterday. I’m currently at work and in a funky/crappy mood so I’ll keep this short!

Good Morning! Well after a day off it was time to get back to the office and get some work done. I woke-up around 5 am…(very sluggish and didn’t sleep very restfully), made my morning espresso and sifted through my email and the usual internet sites. O.K…enough procrastinating…time to go into the garage and ride. I donned on my cycling shorts, socks, put on my shoes and mounted the bike (sounds obscene!). I rode for 1hour 10 minutes and got my 30 miles in. I varied my speed from 22-32 mph..the first 5 miles I warmed up with a 20 mph pace then I would do 5 mile intervals at 28 mph then 22 to let my heart rate come back down..its a good sweat producer. I watched tv for about the first 30 minutes then I listen to the band Rush on the cd player. Just to get the blood flowing. Now it’s slightly after 7 am…took a shower, ate breakfast (protein shake, bagle w/cream cheese, and Gatorade). Now its time to go to the other job….the one that pays!

Time to relax! Well it’s Monday, my normal day off of the bike, so I am. I usually only take 4-5 days off a month and it’s usually Mondays…reason being is that I do my log ride of the week on Sunday. Makes sense huh! To my schedule now. Mondays: off, Tuesday-Friday: I work out on my rollers in the old garage. Hey I work so I can’t wait till the sun comes up. Anyways, I usually get in 20-40 miles per day…but average is 30 and I keep the pace in the 25 mph range and the heart rate about 160-175 range. I love to sweat! I have a Schwinn Super Spot that I ride in the garage with a 55X12 gearing and I keep it there. It’s a good workout and I never leave dry! My rollers are by Performance…if you have never ridden on rollers….it’s like ride on ice. One must have VERY good balance! I have a good setup out there…cd player, small t.v. I would trade it in a second though for the road, but the rollers have to be the best investment that I have made in my cycling! I know that I can g...

On a more serious note. I had a mini epiphany today while riding down the river drive…actually I get them a lot, but this one was bigger than usual. Anyway, I’m riding down along the river, sun is bright, and birds are flying over head, soft song playing on my MP3 player. It was like I was watching a scene in a movie, but it wasn’t a movie…this was my life and I’m the protagonist in this. You know it was just one of those moments in your life where everything thing just felt right. When you felt that the planets were all in line..and you feel that you are becoming the person that you wanted to be. At that moment I realized that I was truly happy. Not just on my bike…but off as well. Could have been a flush of endorphins, but it sure felt good.

Well…not to bad! I still had to work harder than I wanted to, but all in all, not a bad ride. It started out rather grey and cold…but by mile 30, the sun came out! O.k. the ride..I pretty much stuck to the same path as planed except that I added a small loop around the airport. And I’m glad that I did. I met up with a rider that just gave me the chuckles. What I mean is these posers that have just too much money for cycling. This guy..I’ll call him Mr. P..was all decked out with a $6000 bike, team outfit, $200 brinko sunglasses…getting a mental image. Anyway…I see this guy up the road a bit so I hammer away to catch up to him..hey I like meeting new people. This guy doesn’t even give me the time of day like I’m the hack! We’ll that didn’t sit well with me so I continued to hammer and left him behind like a prom date that gives you herpes!! Not talking from experience… Well the rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. I did get a great tail wind going south on US1 and River Dr!! My avera...

So here it is...Sunday morning @ 7:19 am and I still don't know where I am going to ride to. The winds are still a wee bit too high. I think that I take the same route that I did yesterday. Not the most exciting ride..but this time I'm not going to come back north along the river..I think that I will jump over and go north on Fisk and then west on 520, north on Cox, east on 524...and then North on Grissom till I get home. The winds will be more easterly thats yesterday so by staying more inland...I should be safer that riding north up the river. Plus this allows me to mix me direction up more! Yeah...this sounds better than Oak Hill and Christmas considering the wind. But I would rather do those rides. I like a long straight road much more that all the lefts and rights! I'll let you know how it goes! I only need 63 miles.

Was just checking the weather for tomorrow...still breezy from the ENE! I may ditch my idea of riding to Fort Christmas...instead I may ride to Oak Hill. That will give me the milage that I need and I should be able to stay away from the head wind again. It will be a push up there...but the ride back should be o.k.! It's 7:44 p.m. and my legs are a bit sore from my earlier ride and if I get a strong head wind late in the game tomorrow...it'll hurt! Oh well, well just have to wait till the morning comes to see what the weather wants to do. Hopefully the sun will come out nd warm things up a bit. I froze my nuts off today....well ok...just one nut, had to protect the other.

Well that ride sucked!!! I got the miles in that I wanted but the sun never came out and the wind was pretty much enough to make you stop. I rode 64 miles today…a very rough 64 miles! Felt more like 90 miles with that wind. I took off from me house in Port St John and headed north first….wanted to get that head wind out of the way early! Anyway…I rode over toward Fox Lake and then north on Carpenter. Made a right onto Garden St and then headed south on US1. With the tailwind…I was able to get into a good grove and settled into a 25 mph pace. Rode south until I hit Indian River Dr and Corkey Bells (or where it used to be). I turned left onto the River Dr and I see this guy ahead headed south! Of course…like an ass….I hammer to about 28 mph and pass him like a Porsche passing a Yugo. Well I look back and the guy was nowhere to be seen, so I settled back down to a more comfortable 22 mph. After a few minutes…that guy is on my wheel with not even a hello! I was an ass, but tha...

It’s 7:27 am, having my espresso and getting ready for “the ride”. It’s going to be hard today. It’s a bit breezy with winds coming out of the north @ 15mph and I want to get about 60 miles in today! We’ll see. I’ll head north first to get the worst over with and then enjoy a nice tailwind! Hey, but it’s warm (about 50 F) and the sun is coming out so it can’t be all that bad of a ride! Tomorrow should be about the same but the winds are going to be lighter…I hope! I have to get in about 130 miles over the weekend. My dumb ass set a goal of 300 miles for the week and I’m only 175 miles down! But I have 1010 miles so far this year! I’ll let you know how it goes when I get back!

This is just something that I would start doing for the hell of it. The main point to this whole blog is to rehash the day's training. I work full time and try very hard to ride as much as possible like most cyclist. So far what i am doing (self coached) seems to be working for me! So I thought that I would take time out of my crazy day do discuss it! I know that like most people, it's hard to find information about "real" training. Something that normal humans can do. This is my version.

My Next Bike Except not painted!!

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